Back To Eden film

I'd been doing a bit of armchair gardening today as it has been too rainy over the past few days to continue where I left off.  Tomorrow I'll have to go out there come rain or shine as I've left my poor hawthorn whips in a bucket of water in the summerhouse.  Meanwhile my utility room has been filling up with plants I've bought which really need to be planted out asap.

Still, it has not been time wasted as I came across a video that really inspired me today.  You wouldn't think that a film about wood chip mulch would be particularly inspiring, but I am now researching online for the ideal wood chipper/shredder and am looking for someone locally who can supply me with enough wood chip that has rotted a bit already so I have something to use before my own is ready.  With a few trees to fell soon and plenty of branches and twigs in the log pile that were here when I moved in, I can be self-sufficent as far as mulch is concerned - forever - with a small investment in a shredding machine.  I'm always picking up fallen branches in my garden, and if I ever should run out then I can pick up fallen branches along the canal walk.

This is the link to the film "Back To Eden", where the full version can be watched online.

You can also buy a copy of your own on DVD.

Don't be put off by all the Biblical references if you are not a Christian, as it is still worth watching.  I understand what he is getting at though as I have often tuned in to 'Mother Nature' (aka Gaia), and so have experienced a consciousness and telepathic type of communication with a 'force' (for want of a better word) that in my case was perceived as feminine rather than a male god.  Basically it is about working in co-operation with Nature, rather than struggling to control it, and as he said in the film, if it is hard work then you are not doing it right.  

This film is about the use of wood chippings rather than bark chippings or sawdust.

It also needs to be of different sizes rather than all one size, and not dug in at all but left as a covering.  It is better if it has been left to rot a bit first rather than applied fresh, but you can still use it fresh if you use an organic nitrogen fertilizer as otherwise the wood chips would rob the soil of nitrogen in the process of rotting down.

When I get my shredder I'll be using a compost bin to store the wood mulch and use it to store only wood chips and mown grass (the latter to provide some nitrogen with the mulch).

One would think that this would all make the soil very acidic over time, but his soil testing turned out ok even when he wasn't bothered about pH readings.  It is always good to get a soil test done in a lab, and even though I know I have a ph7 neutral reading from various parts of the garden, I want to test the soil properly for any mineral deficiencies or the presence of any metals in the soil.

Living in an area that used to be mined in the 19th century for copper, tin, silver, lead and arsenic, I really should know what is in my soil.  I stumbled upon a blog today written by someone who lives only a few street away from me, who discovered a high amount of arsenic in her soil when she received the lab results back.  Which means growing vegetables in containers only.  I'd like to start growing my own food once the holly tree has been felled to let in more light, so I'm going to find out about soil testing labs.  There is even a bricked up archway in my garden, a huge stone wall that reaches above the rooftops and has been filled in with bricks in one section, which a couple of people have commented on it, wondering what is on the other side of it.   I'm hoping it isn't a mine (unless it is a silver mine of course!) and as the mines were of the shallow horizontal variety in this area, it is not such a far fetched idea.  One of these days I'll be curious enough to remove a couple of the bricks to take a look.  I have enough concern though about the radon gas, which is above the recommended "safe" levels in my house.  It is a natural type of radiation from the geology of the area, granite, but I still don't want to be breathing in any radioactive gases.  Parts of Wales and the Cotswolds also have it, and I'd never heard of it before I moved to this area.  The mining must have brought much of it to the surface, but then again my house is also made of local stone which is probably granite.  Even granite kitchen counters give off small amounts of radon gas.  Today I put my mind at ease after researching the average mortality age by county, and there was no suggestion in the statistics that people were dying off any faster in west Devon.  Which is just as well because I moved here from the city for a healthier lifestyle with better access to the countryside.